Thursday, September 22, 2011

A Perfect Autumn Soup

As far as weather goes, we haven't had much of a summer here in Santa Cruz. In theory we still have one more day of summer, but it's been feeling like fall for a while now.

To celebrate (yet another!) foggy evening, I made this Quinoa & Corn Chowder from Viva Vegan. Have I ever told you how much I love Viva Vegan?? What an amazing book. This was my first time trying this recipe, and I thought it was amazing. Somehow it was light and filling all at once, and packed with corn, lima beans, potatoes, and great seasoning. The recipe calls for aji paste - which I haven't found anywhere around here, but I looked online and found that I could use Sriracha sauce instead - perfect! As a result, the soup had a nice little kick of spicy heat - all the better to warm us up and stave off the fleece socks for one more night.

I love soup and I love that it's another sign that fall is just around the corner. Like Kittee said, Portland's summer is going to end on Saturday and I'm looking forward to lots of pumpkin and yummy soups. This looks like one I'll have to try. I love anything with quinoa and I'll put Sriracha on just about anything :)

I love Viva Vegan! Most of the recipes I've made from it have blown my socks off. I haven't tried this recipe yet (I just can't get into quinoa), but maybe I could make it with a different grain... Anyway, it looks beautiful, especially the fresh green onion on top!